I Love You
by Liz Jade Skywalker
Summary: Luke and Mara prepare for their wedding...Minor AU concerning the time between VOTF and Union
1. Mara's Bad Day

"Mara

"Mara?"I walked into the apartment, searching for my fiancée."Mara?Where are you?"

I found her on the balcony, staring out at the lights of Coruscant."Mara?"

Her back was to me, and her arms were folded—not, I realized, crossed like they usually were.She was hugging herself as though she were cold, although it was a pleasantly warm evening."Mara?Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."Her voice was almost unrecognizable, twisted and strangled.And she was not fine, despite what she said.

"Mara, honestly, what's wrong?"

She turned to face me, and there was a pinched look in her face, as though she was trying to keep from saying something.She shook her head."Luke, it's… it's nothing, okay?Just… nothing."

I frowned at her."Mara, you're upset about something.I don't know what, and I don't know why, but I hate seeing you unhappy.Just tell me."

She turned back out to look at the lights of Coruscant."That… that meeting with the press that Leia set up," she said finally."Their questions, their attitudes, they made me feel worthless.Everything they said seemed to be designed to make me feel like I didn't deserve…" She trailed off.

"Deserve what, love?" I asked her softly.

She sighed."Deserve my powers.Deserve that pardon I was granted after Wayland for serving the Emperor.And most of all, deserve you."There was an expression in her face that was hard to read per se, but with the sense of her mind…

"Mara, don't let anyone convince you of that," I said firmly.Then my face and tone softened."I love you, Mara, more than anything else.More than you could possibly know."

She studied my face in the twilight."Luke… Luke, thank you.I was feeling awful about myself, about everything.I… I was doing okay with the reporters until one of them brought up Callista.They spent so long in that vein, asking me if I really thought the Emperor's Hand was a better match for a Jedi Master than a Jedi like her."

I took her into my arms, and she wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder."Mara, it doesn't matter what the reporters say.I love you, and I want to be with you, and if they don't like the idea, they can take their opinions and stuff them in impolite places, because their opinions don't matter."

Mara turned her head slightly and buried her face in the crook of my neck.I stroked her hair gently, and opened our Force bond as wide as I could, sending all the love and support and care I felt.

After a few seconds, she pulled her face up, and looked me in the eye."I love you, Luke," she murmured.

"I love you too, Mara."


	2. Not Much Happens

The next day, it was my turn to face the press

The next day, it was my turn to face the press. Mara had come over to my apartment to give me a 'pep' talk, which mostly consisted of warnings that all members of the press were evil-worshippers and creatures of the Dark Side. Finally, exasperated, I jokingly told her that any more warnings and she was coming with.

"Oh, come on Luke, I know you wouldn't do that to me!" she protested, her eyes sparkling with the joke. 

I raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't I?"

"You'd better not, Farmboy. I've already been worked over once."

I grinned, and pulled her in for a deep kiss. //You think once is all they'll settle for? They're going to want to talk to both of us more than once.//

//Too bad for them,// she replied firmly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mara was waiting in my apartment when I got back from the interview. I wasn't upset the way she'd been, but to be fair they'd pulled a very mean stunt on her. Darth Holoreporter hadn't been quite so mean to me. But I was well and truly exhausted. 

She wrapped her arms around me as soon as the door closed. "Hey Farmboy," she said softly, "how bad was it?"

"Tiring," I said honestly. "Tiring, annoying, and mostly pointless. As far as I'm concerned, that is."

"Oh really?"

It was getting very hard to concentrate on what she was saying, since she was now kissing her way down my jawline, and I found my mind heading off towards more important matters than a couple of nosy reporters. Namely, the exceptionally beautiful woman I was going to marry.

My arms had found their way around her waist, and I drew her in close, relishing in the feel of her body against mine. "I love you, Mara. Know that?"

She smiled. "Definitely know that. I," she stopped to press her lips to a sensitive spot under my ear, and I shuddered, "know just about everything you do, Farmboy. Don't forget that."

"Works two ways, Red." I kissed the base of her throat gently. She rested her head against my shoulder as I stroked her back gently. 

"I wonder if we should go dig up a newscast on the tridee just to see how badly they've mangled what you told them yesterday," I said, half-jokingly.

Mara smiled at me, a smile that reminded me that I was marrying an ex-assassin. "We could also blow up the tridee. Bets?"

I laughed. "This is going to be an interesting marriage."

She pulled me into a passionate kiss. //It's also going to be a very happy one. I love you, Farmboy,// she sent to me over our bond, //and I can't imagine living without you.//

//Love you, Red.//

//Love you too.//

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I think we need to get away from the press for a little while," I said the next day, over lunch. "Leave Coruscant, head out for a while. Leia's heading the wedding preparations, and she's got strict instructions for small and dignified, so we could be able to get away for a few weeks without causing any damage."

"You don't think the holoreporters will follow us off Coruscant?" Mara asked.

"I don't think they have to know we're leaving until we're gone," I replied. "There're no laws that say we have to tell them."

She laughed. "Devious, Farmboy. I didn't think you had anything other than all-out farmboy honesty in you."

"I must be spending too much time around devious Miss Jade," I joked.

"Well, devious Miss Jade isn't going to exist pretty soon," she replied. "She'll be devious Mrs. Skywalker."

I grinned, and reached across the restaurant table to hold her hand. "I can't wait."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	3. A Little Revelation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mara and I went to see Leia about getting away that evening. Heading over to my sister's apartment, we were bombarded by holocams and media droids. Mechanical smiles, nods, and absolute silence got us through… eventually. I think that was the longest trip of my life.

But Mara was beside me, and although she was probably tenser than I was, her presence was something for me to lean on. 

Once we got inside the building, the bombardment ceased, and Mara sighed quietly, resting her head against my shoulder. //Thank the Force and all true gods they're gone.//

//You can say that again, love, but they'll still be there on the way out.//

//Don't remind me. They're almost enough to turn me Sith.//

We stopped walking, and I turned to face her. "We'll be fine," I said quietly. "As long as we're together, nothing can harm us."

She smiled, and said, "Nothing. We're destined to be together, this is our right path, and no one can take that from us."

The kids were the first ones at the door, jumping up and down in excitement. They ran out into the hall as soon as we arrived (we didn't even need to knock—they're really good at sensing who's coming). Jacen and Anakin latched themselves onto me, while Jaina hugged Mara. 

When we'd told the kids about our impending marriage, they'd been thrilled, Jaina especially because she and Mara had managed to become good friends. Anakin had informed me that he was glad I was getting married because he wanted cousins. I told him, needing to raise my voice to drown out Han's guffaws, that Mara and I would take that under advisement.

As they ushered us inside today, they were full of impatient questions. "When is your wedding going to be?" "How big is it going to be?" "Has your dress been designed yet, Aunt Mara?" Those were essentially the same questions they'd asked the other day, when we told them.

"We don't know, hopefully not very, and no," Mara answered. 

"That's part of what today is," I added, "planning."

Leia and Han were waiting for us in the living room. "Hey, you two," Han greeted us casually. Then he turned to the kids. "You three, outside for a while. You'll know when we're done."

Mara glanced at him curiously about that last statement, and he explained, "After a couple informal meetings, we told the kids not to come in every three minutes and ask if we're done. They just ask Leia or check me."

"Sounds like a good idea," I said. 

Han nodded. "It works. It's an efficient system, because the kids like an opportunity to practice what they can do."

"Anything in particular bring you two here?" Leia asked. 

I glanced at Mara. "Well, yeah," I said.

Mara took over the thread of conversation. "We've been having too bad a time with the press. We'd like to get away for a while—a week or two, maybe. You're in charge of the wedding plans anyway, so nothing should go too badly astray, and I especially need to get away from the press."

Leia shrugged. "Sounds logical. Any ideas where you'd be headed?"

"We're not sure," I said. "I think we'd just sort of knock around for a while, kill time while the press find someone else to bug, then come back in a few weeks."

"The one dilemma," Mara added, "is that we need a ship." I could sense her thoughts turn towards the _Jade's Fire._

Leia smiled. "Take the _Alderaan._" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jumping to hyperspace in five, four, three, two… one. Mark." I pulled the hyperdrive lever and starlines surrounded us.

Mara sighed quietly as she looked around the cockpit of Leia's _Alderaan._

"What's wrong, Love?" I asked her softly.

"I miss the _Jade's Fire_." She pressed her lips together. "It seems so silly, missing a ship, but I do, desperately."

I moved behind her and started to massage her shoulders gently. "Mara, we can start looking for a ship anytime you want. We could get one commissioned, even."

"That's more naivete then I expect even out of you, Farmboy," she said, half-sadly and half-teasingly. "Do you have any idea how much that would cost?"

I nodded. "Actually, I have a pretty good idea. I remember when Leia commissioned the _Alderaan._"

"And how would you propose to pay that much on a Jedi Master's not-so-large salary?" Mara asked.

I smiled, very slightly. "I've got quite a bit of money hidden away," I said softly, wondering how Mara would feel about the money's origin. "Quite a bit."

"Oh, sure. From your oh-so-large Commander's salary from the war?"

"No." I bit my lip. "You wouldn't have heard about this, and I haven't told anyone other than Han and Leia, but… about three weeks after the Battle of Endor, the executors of my father's estate contacted me. He left me everything he owned."

Mara's mouth dropped open. "Bright Force! How… how much, or don't I want to know?"

"Well, there was some real estate and such. Through intermediaries, I had all the property liquidated. In cash, the total value is," I stopped, hesitant. "It's, I think, somewhere between three and four billion credits."

Mara's mouth dropped open. "Between three and four _billion credits_?! You are telling me, Farmboy, that I'm marrying one of the galaxy's richest men?"

"There've got to be people out there with more than that," I pointed out.

"Not a lot of them."

I shrugged. "How did you think I lived while I was Jedi hunting for three years? I dipped into the income the money pays me whenever I needed money. I still do. As you pointed out, Jedi don't get paid so much."

"How much income does this thing pay?"

"Ah, the bank I have it with gives me ten percent interest per annum."

Her mouth worked silently for a moment. "That's… Luke, that's thirty, thirty-five million a year!"

I looked at her. The money had always bothered me slightly, although I couldn't explain why. "I can safely say that commissioning a ship for you would be realistic," I pointed out.

She smiled at that. "I guess it would be. I think I can also see why you're not exactly eager to tell people."

I laughed. "You should have met the executors. They were so shocked that Darth Vader had left his fortune to a Rebel. They couldn't believe it."

"Neither can I."

"Well," I said, "it's true. Financially, I'm exceedingly comfortable."

"I should say," Mara exclaimed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I could sense that Mara was still amazed about the money. "Three or four billion," she murmured.

I kept rubbing her shoulders, feeling he relax into my hands. I allowed myself to bask in her nearness, her presence in the Force both surrounding and within my mind. I could sense her doing the same. This wasn't an awkward silence, but a natural one, where we didn't have to say anything, just understand that we loved each other.

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End file.
